Christmas tree decorative ball hanger



Sept. 7, I954 J. B. O'NEILL.

CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIVE BALL HANGER Filed July 8, 1952 INVENroR, JEss/cA B. U"

NEILL, Er )Y WQ M fl'r-romvex' Patented Sept. 7, 1954 UNITED CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIVE BALL HANGE Jessica B. ONeill, Indianapolis, Ind.

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a Christmas tree ornament, specifically a ball type ornament. The invention particularly relates to means for hanging the ball on a tree. The invention is applicable to both metal and glass type balls, but is particularly well adapted to metal balls which are now commonly employed. A primary object of the invention is to provide an extremely simple and yet highly eifective and relatively low priced hanger which may be attached to the ball simply by inserting it through an aperture provided therein during the manufacture of the ball.

The invention involves primarily the use of a hooked wire which may have the hook end inserted through a neck inverted in the ball to have the hook engage inside of the ball over the lip of the neck.

The foregoing and many other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those versed in the art in the following description of one particular form of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation and partial section of a ball to which the invention is applied;

Fig. 2 is a view in top plan of the ball; and

Fig. 3 is a view in section of a detail showing the hanger partially inserted.

The ball generally designated by the numeral ill is herein shown as made out of two parts H and E2, the two parts telescoping one another about a diet-metrical Zone. The portion i2 is a hemisphere, the marginal portion it of which fits friction-ally over a flange it which is formed to extend from the upper hemisphere portion I l Fig. l.

The upper portion ii is formed to have an inverted nipple i5 tubular in nature.

A wire hanger i6 is formed to have a central main shank ll, on the lower end of which is turned angularly and upwardly therefrom a foot is to form in effect a hook. On the upper end of the hanger it there is provided an eye I9, the diameter of which is larger than the internal diameter of the nipple l 5. The length of the foot 58 is such that normally the distance from its point 26 across to the shank I! is greater than the internal diameter of the nipple E5.

The hanger I6 is attached to the ball l by forcing the foot end downwardly through the nipple E to cause the foot E8 to fold inwardly toward the shank ll, Fig. 3, and then when the end 261 of the foot is carried downwardly below the end of the nipple IE, it may spring back to its normal position as indicated in Fig. 1 where- Application July 8, 1952, Serial No. 297,686

upon the foot 18 is engaged over the lower end 2| of the nipple l5 as is shown in Fig. l. The hanger It thus can not be withdrawn from the ball It without an undue pull being exerted on the hanger, the pull being far greater than any pull would ever be employed with the ball l0 hanging on the Christmas tree. The eye l9 prevents the hanger it from dropping inside of the ball l0, and also fits closely within the upper end of the nipple I5 so that there is only a small portion thereof extending beyond the surface of the ball l0 whereby a number of balls l0 may be shipped in a container without undue interference from the hanger itself. The juncture of the nipple 15 with the surface 22 of the hemisphere portion H is through a radial bend 23 giving an external rounded corner which permits the eye [9 to drop somewhat within the nipple I 5.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the one particular form as now best known to me, it is obvious that structural changes may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention, and particularly in the formation of the ball l0 itself, and in the manner of uniting the two segments one with the other, and I therefore do not desire to be limited to that precise form beyond the limitations which may be imposed by the following claim.

I claim:

An ornament comprising a hollow ball; a tubular nipple extending integrally from the wall of the ball interiorly thereof, relatively downwardly and having a generally cylindrical passageway therethrough entering at the outside face of the ball wall and continuing through the nipple and opening therefrom through the lower end of the nipple, the lower end of the nipple having a generally circular edge spaced below the ball wall; a wire hanger having an approximately straight length shank wire extending loosely within said nipple and emerging by a lower end portion from said nipple end; a length of wire turning acutely from said shank end portion outwardly across and upwardly from said nipple edge and terminating by a free end outside of and spaced above said nipple end; the lateral spacing of said free end from said shank exceeding the diameter of said passageway; said shank also emerging by an upper portion from the upper and outer end of said passageway exteriorly of said ball; an eye on said shank upper portion limiting downward travel of the shank in said passageway; said ball being supported by said nipple lower end edge riding on said hanger wire between said shank and said upturned foot; and the length of said shank between said eye and the juncture of said Number foot with said shank exceeding the distance be- 794,979 tween the outside of said ball and said nipple end 1,224,921 edge whereby said shank may be free to travel 1,371,210 axially of the nipple within the limits of the spac- 5 1,841,028 ing apart of said eye and said foot juncture. 2,144,910

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 25 2 Number Name Date 10 7 :151

435,422 Hill Sept. 2, 1890 Name Date Haverly July 18, 1905 Hadley May 8, 1917 King Mar. 8, 1921 Jones Jan. 12, 1932 Churchill Jan, 24, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Aug. 15, 1931 France Nov. 18, 1929 

